Retired teacher David DePoe claimed Monday it was a phone call from one of Giorgio Mammoliti's opponents -- an unnamed lawyer apparently -- which caused him to pursue the compliance audit of the councillor's election expenses that now has Mammoliti facing possible prosecution.

The former Yorkville hippie said he had already appeared before the same compliance audit committee -- that met Monday to determine Mammoliti's fate following an audit finding he exceeded his 2010 spending limit by $12,065 -- to complain about Mayor Rob Ford's use of a rented RV for a bargain basement price.

DePoe's complaint about Ford didn't go anywhere. That was already being vigorously pursued by professional leftist Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler and his sidekick Max Reed of (Un)Fair Elections Toronto.

But then we suddenly learned that the lawyer, Paul-Erik Veel, who'd represented him -- pro bono I might add -- is with (Un)Fair Elections Toronto, headed up by Chaleff-Freudenthaler.

How did Veel come to DePoe?

Why, Chaleff-Freudenthaler connected up the two of them.

To fully connect the dots, it seems Veel and Reed studied together at McGill.

Wasn't it all so nice that Mr. DePoe served Chaleff-Freudenthaler's purpose as the "useful idiot" in his ongoing, obsessive and vindictive campaign to make the right pay for winning the 2010 election?

For the record, the professional leftist was conspicuous in his presence at the compliance audit committee meeting Monday for going on two hours, even though he claimed he was on his lunch.

Well, he does have a union job.

But back to DePoe, who said he didn't have time to look into other councillor expenses, most especially those on the right.

Nevertheless the former hippie, who told us he still believes in "peace and understanding" (but only when it comes to leftists evidently), said he was quite happy with the decision on Mammoliti, claiming he is really bothered by people "who get themselves an unfair advantage in running for office."

Note to Mr. DePoe: Either you're incredibly naive or just plain dense. Incumbents on the left already have an unfair advantage over fresh blood by virtue of name recognition/having the same names as their politician daddies and their union/firefighter/arts group/grateful recipients of Section 37 funds Election Sign Teams.

This is not at all to take away from Mammoliti's overspending by 44% and alleged breach of the campaign spending rules.

Listening to Bruce Armstrong, of Froese Forensic Partners Ltd., which conducted the forensic audit on Mammoliti's election expenses, it sounds like the campaign record-keeping was total chaos.

That chaos was only made worse by the fact that Mammoliti dropped out of the mayoral race on July 9, 2010, and according to him, did not officially start his councillor campaign until Aug. 27, 2010 -- muddying the waters as to what was charged to the mayoral tab and what should have been charged to his councillor campaign.

Armstrong seemed to suggest that it was more negligence and the lack of consistent auditing assistance that created this alleged breach than anything deliberate on Mammoliti's part.

For that there should be repercussions -- but I'm thinking more of a fine.

But everyone -- including the Grey Hairs on the compliance audit committee and the city's election officials -- were out for blood.

Despite a plea from Mammoliti's lawyers, Morris Manning and Jack Siegel, to give them proper time to respond to the audit, the committee (appointed by the Millerites in August of 2010) felt they had a moral imperative to proceed with an expensive court case.

My goodness, I'm surprised they didn't engage in a public lynching right then and there on Nathan Phillips Square. At least we taxpayers would have been saved the city's costs.

As for Mammoliti, he was shell-shocked.

Already faced with paying back legal fees to defend a compliance complaint (that went nowhere) in 2006, he said he plans to defend his integrity. But unlike the (Un)Fair Elections folk, his fees won't be pro-bono.

"I can honestly tell this city it will take me 20 years to pay this off," he said, his eyes welling up with tears. "I can't talk about retirement."

Poll

Do you think Councillor Mammoliti should be prosecuted for his campaign overspending?

Left out for Mammoliti's blood but a fine will do

Retired teacher David DePoe claimed Monday it was a phone call from one of Giorgio Mammoliti's opponents -- an unnamed lawyer apparently -- which caused him to pursue the compliance audit of the councillor's election expenses that now has Mammoliti facing possible prosecution.

The former Yorkville hippie said he had already appeared before the same compliance audit committee -- that met Monday to determine Mammoliti's fate following an audit finding he exceeded his 2010 spending limit by $12,065 -- to complain about Mayor Rob Ford's use of a rented RV for a bargain basement price.

DePoe's complaint about Ford didn't go anywhere. That was already being vigorously pursued by professional leftist Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler and his sidekick Max Reed of (Un)Fair Elections Toronto.